Novel Agents Show Impressive Activity in Hodgkin Lymphoma

Angelica Welch

Published: Friday, Oct 27, 2017

Jane N. Winter, MD

The recent breakthrough designation of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) for the first-line treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma could potentially allow for another option for select populations, such as elderly patients, who have demonstrated promising responses.

In an interview during the meeting, Winter shared her insight on the progress of the above-mentioned agents, emphasizing the importance of clinical trials in this disease.

OncLive®: Can you please give an overview of your presentation on immunotherapy in Hodgkin lymphoma?

Winter: For Hodgkin lymphoma, we have new agents that are available. Recently, we have been trying to balance long-term toxicities as well as acute toxicities with efficacy. There is a long way to go, particularly for some subgroups of patients, and especially for the elderly. The overall outcomes for patients over the age of 60 are poor, with approximately 50% only surviving 5 years with conventional therapy. Also, for younger patients, there are unmet needs with many patients failing upfront and salvage therapy. The So much so that the issue of increased efficacy in the frontline setting, as well as the issue of reducing long-term toxicities, including secondary malignancies, and cardiovascular disease, are foremost in our consideration.
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